1. Field of the Invention
Among the myriad tools man has devised to enhance both his work and pleasure is the venerable trailer.
The trailer comes in many forms which may be characterized generally as utility trailers having a bed, at least one axle and a pair of wheels mounted thereon, together with a forward tongue terminating in a hitch mechanism, which is selectively connected to a vehicle to permit towing. In order that the trailer can be towed on today's modern highways and roads, it is typically supported by inflatable tires.
To absolutely nobody's surprise, inflatable tires inevitably become deflated. When deflation occurs, from whatever cause, towing becomes problematic, at best, and, realistically, the person doing the towing should, if not must, pull over and remedy the situation before proceeding further down the road. Failure to do so will almost always result in the tire being chewed up by the rim, thereby exacerbating the entire failure situation.
Except in the rarest of circumstances, a tire change involves locating a jack and raising the tire off the road so that it can be removed and repaired or replaced, as the situation dictates. A person doing the towing may have a jack in the tow vehicle. The question then becomes whether or not the jack will fit under the frame of the trailer sufficiently so as to cause the frame to be raised, with the consequent raising of the wheel sufficiently to permit its removal.
If the jack found is of a scissor type, which will rest on the ground, and if it has a height less than the height of the low point of the trailer adjacent the wheel to be repaired, there would appear to be little problem in effecting a tire repair or change. On the other hand, if the jack is the more typical bumper jack, all sorts of problems may arise and, in fact, that type jack may inhibit, if not totally prevent, the jacking of the trailer.
The focus of the present invention is to address problems such as those articulated above with a straight forward remedy.
2. Overview of the Prior Art
Inexplicably, there appears to be a dearth of prior art efforts to address the problem articulated by this application. One such patent issued to Nudd et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,092. The Nudd et al. jack will be immediately recognized as the jack often found on the tongue of boat trailers to support that tongue at a height sufficient to permit the trailer hitch of a tow vehicle to be readily attached to the tongue of the trailer. The jack itself involves a pair of telescoping tubes with the wheel attached to the tube having the lesser diameter. A crank raises and lowers the inner tube to situate the tongue of the trailer at the appropriate height.
An earlier patent to Adams, U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,313, is similar in structure and concept in that the jack is strapped to an element of the trailer and is vertically situated with a flat plate at the base (40), rather than the wheel found in Nudd.
Both Nudd and Adams are essentially permanent structures in that they are bolted, or otherwise strapped, to a frame element of the trailer to which they are joined. As a consequence, the essentially vertical orientation of the jack itself tends to limit ground clearance and, in general, becomes an impediment which must be worked around. Neither addresses the problem which is the focus of this application.
In yet another effort at providing a jacking device, Schwebke U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,825 raises the complex to an art form by mounting a swing double jack to his trailer rail. With an array of four bar mechanisms, the jack swings from the vertical to a horizontal position just under the rail, where it is out of the way until needed. Again, this is a purely permanent structure adding additional weight to the trailer itself.